Pacquiao unaffected by the Marquez KO, says Roach

LAS VEGAS, USA – Manny Pacquiao’s 2012 knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez is a big part of why Floyd Mayweather Jr has been a solid underdog at the Las Vegas sports books since their May 2 fight at the MGM Grand was announced in February of this year. 

Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach recalled that night in December of 2012, when Pacquiao jumped into a counter right hand from Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth meeting, which sent Pacquiao face-down for the count and a while longer. 

“It was a bad knockout, it was something we were all worried about, he laid down for a long time,” Roach said at the trainer meetings at the MGM Grand on Thursday, April 30. 

Roach said he accompanied Pacquiao to the hospital afterwards, where he received a CAT scan and other neurological tests before being released that night. But Pacquiao had to make a pit stop at the restroom before being loaded in the ambulance. 

“I says ‘Why?’ He said ‘I have to wash the blood off my face.’ He knew what just happened to him, he was very aware.” 

The following morning, Pacquiao sported a few bruises on his face at a prayer service in his Mandalay Bay suite. He told the hundreds gathered “Better luck next time.”

Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) has seen the canvas eight times in his career, and been knocked out three times since his career began in 1995. Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs) has taken a count just once in his unbeaten career, after complaining of hand trouble in his 2001 fight against Carlos Hernandez.

Pacquiao’s defeats have made him aware of his mortality. When Pacquiao first started training with Roach in 2001, Roach said he asked to see some of his old fight tapes. Pacquiao showed him his knockout losses to Rustico Torrecampo and Medgoen Singsurat.

“I said ‘Why did you show me that?’ He said ‘That’s part of my life.’

“He wanted to show me the worst parts and he saved the best parts for later.” 

The Marquez loss in particular has been a constant source of needling from Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs), who has mocked the loss on several occasions through social media. Mayweather defeated Marquez by a one-sided decision in 2009.

When asked which performance of Pacquiao’s he thought was his best, Floyd Mayweather Sr said “His best was when Marquez crushed him.

“Once you get hit like that and your ass go to sleep, it ain’t gonna take too many more of them…it’ll happen again.” 

Roach and Mayweather Sr have traded barbs throughout the years since the fight was first discussed in 2009, though the taunts have turned childish as fight week progresses. Mayweather Sr said Roach was a “joke with no hope,” while Roach called Mayweather Sr’s poems “cute.”

The two walked by each other at the media tent outside of the MGM Grand without incident or words being exchanged.

Since the loss, Pacquiao went on to defeat Brandon Rios by unanimous decision, then avenged a dubious decision loss to Timothy Bradley and dropped Chris Algieri six times to win on points heading into the Mayweather fight.  

Roach is expecting his fighter to keep up a strong work rate to outpoint Mayweather, while anticipating that Mayweather will try to finish Pacquiao early after sculpting a more muscular frame in training for this fight. 

“I know my guy’s gonna deliver. I can’t promise you about Floyd, but he’s putting on a lot of muscle on to fight and I hope that’s what he’s choosing to do. I think he’s gonna come out in the early rounds and try to knock us out and we’re well-prepared for that.”

But Roach is still hedging his bet.

“He could run all night but I have fallen asleep at a couple of his fights before.”

– Rappler.com